A Math Problem in Four (4) Parts...

There's Only One...

Tomorrow evening, in what is one of the more anticipated fixtures of the season, the Whitecaps play the Portland Timbers. (They know what they can do with their timbers.) As an extra bonus, the Whitecaps will pay tribute to David Morris. David, a long time player and fan favourite, is the inspiration behind such songs as "There's Only One David Morris," and "We All dream of a Team of David Morris." I'm hoping that if he isn't going to be playing in every position then at least he'll be the referee.

Picking Blackberries

As I was leaving the studio where I work yesterday, a man at the guard house offered me some freshly picked blackberries from a bowl. I had a few...so tasty. He told me where he had picked them, in a nearby field, but also that there were some along the railroad tracks. I normally bike along those tracks, for a short way where the road runs parallel and there are no blackberries there, but I knew where they would be. I went a different way home, so I could pick some myself, along a dirt path near those railroad tracks. The pathway is being flattened and levelled so I think before long it'll be paved; this may have been one of my last chances to bike on that path as it is now, that way I'd never gone before. Sure enough, there was a long stretch of barely picked over blackberry bushes, rich with shiny, ripe, bulging berries. I set my bike down in the dirt, crossed the tracks and started picking. I had no container with me, so I just stood there picking, eating and sucking the juice from my stained fingers. I love blackberries for a number of reasons. First of all, and most obviously, they are delicious. They are somehow an embodiment of summer for me, a marker and a result of long hot sunny days. And as they are a marker of a point in time, a moment in the season, I am reminded by blackberries that, as asparagus leads to peaches and plums and nectarines which in turn lead to blackberries, before long Concorde grapes, which I truly love, will be ripe. As well, around here at least, they are ubiquitous, one of the few wild foods that are readily accessible to be harvested by us city dwellers. But like the inevitable pricks that come with sticking your hand into a thick blackberry bush, or the disappointment that comes with biting into a hard and sour one, there is something bittersweet about the arrival of blackberries. As sure as blackberries ripen at the height of summer, so too will that moment pass. Those long and lazy days will shorten, the sun that has sweetened those berries to perfection will diminish, the berries will fall to the ground, and before long it will be autumn.

A Gift from the Mail Fairy!

There were two packages in my mailbox waiting for me this evening. The first one I'd been expecting for some time.

It is, of course, my Eh! Steve! T-shirt. If you don't know Eh! Steve!, he is a Homestar Runner character, and can be seen here. Click on Eh! Steve! on The Cheat's monitor at the end for a treat.

The second package was unexpected. About a month ago I was listening to Rough Guide Radio's monthly world music show and there was a trivia question which I answered correctly. The question was, "What is the closest South American country to Trinidad & Tobago?" When I listened to the August show they hadn't yet updated the page where they announce the winners so I was unaware I had won. But I had. This is what I won:


And:I don't have any trips planned and no vacation coming up, but if I get one, I just may be heading to the Caribbean. Mon!

Johnny 'Dizzy' Moore, R.I.P.

Olympics Report-Day 8

Random thoughts and observations from Day 8:

-Sweet. Women's Pole Vaulting is on.
-Damn you CBC, you lied...it's women's long jump.
-Mongolia has a medal now. Nice work Mongolia.
-Guess who still doesn't have a medal?
-Due to the time change and what not, I never really know if what I'm watching is live, whether it happened yesterday or today, or tomorrow even. Am I watching tv from the future?
-I'm going to have a martini now.

Olympics Report-Day 6

Random thoughts and observations from Day 6...

-Cultural Sensitivity Update: The Spanish Basketball team has appeared in a newspaper ad all pulling their eyes back to make them slanted. What can I say? At least they're not pretending to be mentally disabled...
-Still no Canadian medals. I'm actually kind of on the cusp of hoping we get zero medals, but it's probably too early for that to last. Not my hope, the zero medals thing I mean.
-Apparently I'm not very patriotic.
-Go C-A-N-A-D-A!
-Is that better?
-It's funny that when that Hungarian weightlifter dislocated his elbow and was writhing on the ground in agony while receiving medical attention, a small group of stewards with little white cards came and shielded him so that the audience couldn't see him. And by funny, I mean strange.
-Gymanstics, Softball, and a couple other things I don't feel like watching are on now. Of course, my live feeds work today, when I don't want to watch anything.
-Arsenal won the opening leg of their Champion's League qualifier today 2-0 against FC Twente Enschede. What does that have to do with the Olympics you ask? Don't ask me such idiotic questions.

2 Tone Records!

The BBC is currently running a two part radio documentary called Too Much Too Young: The Story of 2 Tone. Part one is currently available for listening here. Unfortunately, you only have a few more days to listen to it. Part two airs this Saturday and should be available for a few days after that online.

Enjoy yourself!

Olympics Report-Day 5

Random thoughts and observations on Day 5...

-For some reason, none of the CBC video feeds are currently available in my area.
-Hmmm...how can I comment if I can't watch anything?
-Some 2 or 3 year old kid hucked a frisbee at me as I was cycling home. He didn't hit me, but his dad was pretty embarrassed.
-Togo joined the ever-growing list of countries ahead of us in the medal standings.
-Damn, Kyrgyzstan has a medal too. We're really not very good at these summer game things, are we?
-Apparently the kid that was singing at the opening ceremonies was lip syncing...she was chosen because she was cuter than the girl that actually sang the song. I never saw the opening ceremonies.
-Newsflash: I found a non CBC feed of questionable legality. Unfortunately it's a feed from Go-Go-U-S-A!
-Can somebody please beat Michael Phelps?
-Apparently not in this race....Damn.
-I read an article earlier today about how the design of the pool along with advancements in the technology of swimwear have lead to so many records falling. Is that fair? Discuss.
-Enough of this...I'm going for a run.

Olympics Report -Day 4

Some random thoughts and observations from Day 4...

-Canada sucks at water polo. I'm watching Montenegro hand us a whoopin' in the pool.
-Apparently they have yellow cards in water polo, as the Canadian coach (?) just got one.
-Canada is also not very good at field hockey. At least the Canadian men aren't. They lost in that today as well.
-Field hockey is a girl's sport.
-Apparently the fireworks in the broadcast of the opening ceremonies were visual effects.
-CBC is a showing lots of the Olympics live on their website which is very cool (how else would I get to see Canada blow at water polo?) but it is strange to watch these sports with no commentary.
-Canada is currently behind, among many other powerhouses of world sport, Azerbaijan, North Korea, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe.

Isaac Hayes R.I.P.

Hiroshima Day

Sixty three years to the day after the United States dropped the first atomic bomb, killing as many as 200 000 people, the overwhelming majority civilians, in the blast and it's aftermath, here is an article by journalist John Pilger on the legacy and lessons of Hiroshima.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn R.I.P.

Signposts!

I found this sign attached to my bicycle today:

Maybe I'm just lazy, but wouldn't it be easier for everyone involved if they just put a sign on the post itself, asking cyclists not to lock their bikes to it?

Pizza of the Day!

Actually, it was the pizza of two days ago.

It has tofu, green peppers, green olives, zucchini, and three (3) types of cheese: Mozzarella, Parmesan and Manchego. Ooh, Manchego.